Comment Torrential downpours caused flash flooding in St. Louis and surrounding areas on Tuesday, stranding residents in their cars and homes as the amount of rain broke a record set more than a century ago. The city had received more than 8.5 inches of rain as of 10 a.m. local time, the most ever recorded there in a calendar day and more than an inch above the record of 6.85 inches set in August 1915, when the remnants of the hurricane in Galveston, Tex., passed through the area. Some areas on the northwest side of St. Louis received more than 10 inches of rain in six hours overnight — an event with a 0.1 percent chance of occurring in a given year. The heaviest rainfall had moved to the northeast by 8am, but showers continued to affect the city. Emergency workers responded to numerous reports of drivers whose cars were submerged in the floodwater. A block away on the city’s west side, the St. Louis Fire Department said, had used an inflatable boat to rescue six people and six dogs trapped in about 18 homes amid severe flooding. About 15 people chose to take refuge in their place. No injuries from the flooding had been reported as of about 10 a.m. local time, said Ann Vastmans, spokeswoman for the St. Louis County Office of Emergency Management. Videos shared on social media showed many roads completely inaccessible. Part of a major highway, Interstate 70, was closed due to flooding, the Missouri Department of Transportation said. St. Louis County emergency officials urged residents not to travel and said they had set up a shelter for evacuees. The central part of the county was most affected by the downpour, they said. “Be extremely careful,” St. Louis firefighter Garon Patrick Mosby said in a video shared on Twitter. “We are being overwhelmed here.” Extreme rainfall events have increased significantly over the past century and are linked to warming from human-induced climate change. The most severe such events increased by 42 percent in the Midwest between 1901 and 2016, with additional increases expected as the climate continues to warm, according to the US government’s National Climate Assessment. Sign up for the latest news on climate change, energy and the environment, delivered every Thursday The rain in St. Louis began late Monday as storms formed along a west-to-east line, repeatedly passing over the city like railroad cars into Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service warned of “life-threatening flash flooding” shortly after 2 a.m. and later declared a flash flood emergency, the most severe flood warning. By then, 3 to 6 inches of rain had fallen and high water levels were “threatening homes” while vehicles were submerged in high water, according to the Weather Service. “This is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION,” he warned. “SEEK THE HIGH NOW!” St. Louis received two months worth of rain in six hours. A creek in St. Peters, Mo., just northwest of St. Louis, rose a record-breaking 21.5 feet in seven hours in the middle of the torrent. The storms that formed along the northern periphery of a heat dome spread into the southern states of the center, responsible in recent days for high temperatures in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. St. Louis was in the tumultuous transition zone between this oppressive heat and the cooler weather moving into the Upper Midwest from Canada. On Tuesday, the National Weather Service declared the area from eastern Missouri to central West Virginia under an increased risk for excessive rainfall, with the greatest risk from the St. Louis area through southern Illinois and into southwestern Indiana. This danger is forecast to move across the region from southeast Missouri to West Virginia on Wednesday and Thursday.
